Unforgettable Halloween
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Based on some spoilers for 10.05, "Good Grief", but mostly speculation. When Claire and Phil find a positive pregnancy test, they have a suspect in mind. Turns out they're wrong.


Finding a positive pregnancy test had sent Claire and Phil into a tailspin so needless to say, they were on edge during the annual Halloween party. "It's obviously Haley's. We knew this was going to happen someday," Claire whispered to her husband.

Mitch raised his hand. "Uh, guys? Why don't you go talk to her instead of whispering about it all night?"

Cam nodded. "Yeah. And I want to watch the drama unfold!" He clapped his hands gleefully and stared at his brother and sister-in-law in hopes of getting them moving.

"Yes, confront her already!" urged Mitch, spurred on by his husband.

"Fine. We can't keep freaking out about it," Phil acknowledged. He wasn't ready to be a grandfather! He'd support his daughter, of course, and he looked forward to having a grandchild, but he wasn't happy about this at all.

"Maybe it was a false positive. Those happen all the time!" Claire tried, clinging to the last shreds of denial she had left.

The two of them rushed to go find Haley with Mitch and Cam at their heels, earning them strange looks when they arrived. "You look tense," Gloria observed.

Phil and Claire floundered for a few seconds, prompting more confusion from their daughters and Gloria and eyerolls from Mitch and Cam, but they managed to summon up the courage to confront Haley. "We need to talk to you about something," Claire finally told Haley.

"Yeah, I gathered that." She eyed her parents warily and waited for them to drop the bomb. Had she done something recently? She couldn't think of anything but that didn't mean they hadn't come up with something.

Alex nervously sipped on her drink and avoided looking at them, something that Mitch caught when no one else did and dread settled in his stomach. "Just tell us, Haley. You can be honest with us," Phil urged.

"About what? Is this about Dylan and Arvin again?" she asked, confused.

"We found the pregnancy test and know its yours!" Claire shouted.

Gloria gasped while Alex choked on her drink. "Haley's pregnant? Eh, I'm not surprised."

Haley's mouth dropped open. "What? I am so not pregnant. Maybe you're pregnant!" she accused.

"Don't deflect, Haley Gwendolyn Dunphy!"

"You don't need to full name me because it's not mine!" Haley glared at her parents, incensed that they didn't believe her.

Much to their horror, Alex burst into tears. "It's not Haley's pregnancy test - it's mine. I'm pregnant," she confessed.

Stunned, her family stood in silence for a few minutes as they tried to process it. "You're my smart one," Claire finally said.

Hating to see his daughter so upset - despite the fact that he was angry and in shock himself - Phil hugged her. "Oh, Alex."

Claire grabbed her hand and led her inside to the couch, everyone else following out of curiosity. "Alexandra," she moaned when they sat down.

"I'm sorry," Alex sobbed, gasping for breath. She knew she should have hidden the pregnancy test better but had freaked out and stopped thinking straight after it came back positive.

"Have you figured out what you want to do yet?" Claire finally asked, her mind running in several different directions. She grabbed Alex's hand and squeezed it. "We'll support whatever you want to do, you know that, right? If you don't want to keep it, that's okay."

"I'm scared but I think I can do this. I can skip the spring semester and finish next fall. And Bill will be involved, of course. I talked to him earlier and he's freaking out but he's all in." Alex was absolutely terrified but she also knew that she'd have support and that kept her from completely falling apart.

"Okay then. Have you made an appointment yet?"

Alex shook her head. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Claire begrudgingly smiled at her. "Then we'll call in the morning and get you in as soon as possible to make sure everything's okay."

Haley suddenly laughed. "I can't believe it didn't happen to me. I always thought I'd be the first one to get knocked up. And I know you all thought it too." She stared pointedly at everyone in the room but they ignored her.

"You definitely don't have to do this alone," Gloria assured her.

"We are one hundred percent here for you, Alex." Phil put aside his own anger to comfort her because she was still crying and definitely needed their support. He hugged her again and wasn't surprised when she clung to him this time.

"You're going to be a grandma," Mitch teased Claire, hoping to lighten up the situation and finding that fact genuinely funny.

"Shut the fuck up," Claire shot back, half-teasing, half-serious.

Alex was the last person anybody in the family expected to face an unplanned pregnancy but they rallied around her (and Bill) to help them through it. But this wasn't the last big change heading their way, and tragedy would catch them off guard even more.


End file.
